Slide cover for converting a box into a feed hopper



Nov. 20, 1956 SCHRADER, SR

SLIDE COVER FOR CONVERTING A BOX INTO A FEED HOPPER Filed Feb. 9, 1954 IN VE/V TOR GEORGE SGHRADER, Jr., administrator of estate of GEORGE .SGHRADER, $1., deceased his Afforney.

SLIDE COVER FOR CONVERTING A BOX INTO A FEED HOPPER George Schrader, Sr., deceased, late of Waukegan, 1111.,

by George Schrader, Jr., administrator, Waukegan, IlL, assignor to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Application February 9, 19 54, Serial No. 409,084

' 8 Claims. ((31. 220-41) This invention relates, as indicated, to a slide cover for converting a box into a feed hopper, and, more particularly, to a cover applicable for feed hopper conversion purposes to conventionally constructed corrugated metal boxes having pallet bases by which they may be handled by fork-lift trucks.

The use of fork-lift trucks in conjunction with pallets and containers or boxes having pallet-like bases is common practice in expediting material handling operations. Where the articles to be handled are relatively small in size and cannot be stacked on a pallet, a box is mounted ona pallet base and such boxes are commonly fabricated of sheet metal having horizontally extending corrugations for reinforcement purposes. While such palletized containers are entirely satisfactory for transporting articles from one location to another in a manufacturing establishment, it is frequently necessary to provide a hopper to which the articles are transferred from the palletized container in order to render them more accessible to the manufacturing personnel for further manufacturing operations, and the transfer of the articles to the hopper necessitates an additional material hand ling operation.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to provide a palletized container or box having a novel arrangement ofv cover structure by which it is rendered useable as a hopper in addition to its normal function of transporting materials to thereby not only eliminate the necessity of providing separate material handling hoppers in a manufacturing establishment but also to eliminate the material handling operation required in transfer of the articles to the hoppers.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel form of closure for corrugated metal boxes of conventional construction, and, in addition, to provide a cover of this character with instrumentalities for' effecting movement of the cover to partially opened position when the box is to be used as a hopper.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description.

In the drawings there is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention. In this showing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventionally constructed palletized container together with a cover therefor which is constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention and shown in position for application to the palletized container;

Figure 2 is a perspective view similar to Figure 1 but showing the cover in its operative position on the container in which it forms a closure for the opening at the top of the container;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cover and container illustrating their relative positions when the container is placed endwise on a support for use as a hopper;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a, portion of the cover of this invention;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of one end of the cover; and

plural grooves 9 in spaced horizontal planes extending around the periphery of thecontainer. The structure of Figure 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line VI-VI of Figure 3.

In the drawings, the numeral 1 designates as a whole a palletized container of conventional construction. The container 1 is in the form of a corrugated metal box having a base or bottom 2 which is provided with metal skids 3 extending along its longitudinal edges. The skids 3 are provided for the purpose of supporting the bottom 2 in an elevated position with respect to a floor structure or other supporting surface and to thereby provide space for the reception of the arms of a fork-lift truck. Each of the skids 3 has a pair of spaced openings 4 formed in its sides through which the arms of a fork-lift truck may be inserted in a direction laterally of the container. The walls of the container are fabricated from corrugated sheet metal, there being two spaced end walls 5 and" two spaced side walls 6 which define an opening 7 of 1 rectangular shape at the top of the container. The upper edges of each of the walls 5 and 6 have an inturned lip or flange 8 extending around the opening 7. The corrugated construction of the walls 5 and 6 provide the palletized container thus far described is conven' tional.

The cover or closure of this invention comprises a flat sheet metal top 10 having flanges 11 depending from opposite sides or edges thereof. The top 10 has a width slightly greater than the spacing of the container side walls 6 so that the flanges 11 are spaced a slight distance from the upper fiat portion 12 of each side wall 6which is positioned above the top groove 9 when the cover is in position on the container as best shown in Figure 6. To mount the cover on the container, each flange 11 has a hollow rod or tube 13 secured to and extending along,

the entire length of each bottom edge thereof. As best shown in Figure 6, each tube 13 is spaced from the top.

10 and has a radius of curvature corresponding to the radius of curvature of the top groove 9 so that it nests in the top groove 9 with its axis adjacent the plane of the flat portions 12 of the side walls. container, the top 10 bears against the side wall flanges 8 and the tubes 13 have sliding engagement in the grooves 9 so that the cover may be moved by a sliding action to and from the closed position shown in Figure 2. This sliding movement of the cover is limited to a movement in a horizontal plane as viewed in Figures 1 and 2, the engagement of the tubes 13 in the grooves 9 being effective to prevent movement of the cover vertically with respect to the container 1.

Reinforcing strips 14 of T shape are applied to the top 10 and flanges 11.

The rear end 15 of the cover is provided with a depending flange 16 for engagement with the top of one end wall 5 to limit movement of the cover to the left'as viewed in Figures 1 and 2 beyond the covering position of the cover as shown in Figure 2.

The tubes 13 have extensions 17 which project beyond the other end 18 of the cover and beyond the other end wall 5a when the cover is in a position completely closing the container opening 7. Each of the extensions 17 has a rod 19 telescopically received therein as best shown in Figure 4. The rods 19 have openings 20 at spaced intervals along their lengths and the extensions 17 have similar openings for the reception of locking pins 21 which may be inserted through the openings 20 to fix the position of the rods 19 with respect to the extension 17 and thereby the effective length of the extensions 17..

Patented Nov. 20, 1956 When mounted on the supporting surface 22. When the container is lowered on to the supporting surface 22 in this manner, the ends of the rods 19 engage first with the surface 22 and move the cover to the partially open position shown in Figure 3 as the container 1 is lowered vto-its supported position on the surface 22. This provides a partial opening 23 in the nature of a hopper opening through which the articles in the container 1 may move on to the surface 22 which may be conveniently a table or Work platform. By adjusting the positions of the rods 19 with respect to the tubular extension 17, the size of the hopper opening 23 may be varied to accommodate different sizes of articles being handled by the container.

. In operation, a fork-lift truck having a revolving head is used to handle the container and place it in the position shown in Figure 3. When a container is loaded with articles and a cover is attached by sliding the tubes 13 into the top grooves 9 of the container side walls as explained above, the fork arms of the lift truck are inserted laterally through the openings 4 in the skids 3 and are elevated to transport the container in the conventional manner. When the container has been transported to the table 22, the revolving head of the lift truck is rotated through an angle of 90 to position the end wall 5a at the bottom of the container Which is then lowered onto the supporting surface 22, and this lowering movement automatically through the action of the extension 17 and rods 19 moves the cover 9 to a partially open position to provide a hopper opening 23 through which the articles may move onto the surface 22.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A container and hopper unit comprising a box having a bottom with upwardly projecting side and end walls defining an opening at its top, said side Walls each having a groove spaced from and parallel to its upper edge, a closure for said opening having lateral edges projecting beyond said sidewalls and flanges depending from said edges, and a pair of rods respectively secured to the inner surfaces of said flanges, each of said rods being received in and having sliding engagement in one of said grooves and mounting said closure for movement to and from a position covering said opening, said rods having extensions which project beyond one of said end walls when said closure is in its said covering position and are effective to actuate said closure to a position partially uncovering said opening when it is placed endwise on a supporting surface with said one end wall resting on said supporting surface.

2. A unit as defined in claim 1 characterized by said closure having a depending flange along one of its ends for engagement with the other of said end walls to limit sliding movement of said cover to its said covering position.

3. A container and hopper unit comprising a corrugated metal box having spaced side and end walls defining an opening at its top, said walls having spaced parallel horizontally extending corrugated grooves therein, and a cover for said opening having lateral edges projecting beyond said sidewalls and flanges depending from said edges, and a pair of rods respectively secured to the inner surfaces of said flanges adjacent their bottom edges, each of said rods being received in and having sliding engagement in one of said sidewall grooves and mounting said cover for movement to and from a position covering said opening.

4. A container and hopper unit comprising a corrugated metal box having spaced side and end walls defining an opening at its top, said walls having spaced parallel horizontally extending corrugated grooves therein, and a cover for said opening having lateral edges projecting beyond said sidewalls and flanges depending from said edges, and a pair of tubes respectively secured to the inner surfaces of said flanges adjacent their bottom edges, each of said tubes being received in and having sliding engagement in one of said sidewall grooves and mounting said cover for movement to and from a position covering said opening, each of said tubes having extensions which project beyond one of said endwalls when said cover is in its said covering position for actuating said cover to a position uncovering said opening when the box is placed endwise on a supporting surface with said one end wall resting on said supporting surface.

5. A unit as defined in claim 4 characterized by each of said extensions comprising a rod having telsc'opic engagement in one of said tubes and means for adjusting the length which it projects from the tube in which it has telescopic engagement.

6. A cover for a conventional palletized corrugated metal box having an opening at its top comprising a-flat sheet metal panel having depending flanges respectively along each of its lateral edges, each of said flanges having a rod secured to its inner surface and adjacent the bot- .tom edge thereof for engagement in a groove formed by the corrugations in the sidewalls of the corrugated metal box to mount the cover on the box for sliding movement to and from a position covering its opening.

7. A cover for a conventional palletized corrugated metal box having an opening at its top comprising a flat sheet metal panel having depending flanges respectively along each of its lateral edges, each of said flanges having a rod secured to its inner surface and adjacent the bottom edge thereof for engagement in a groove formed by the corrugations in the sidewalls of the corrugated metal box to mount the cover on the box for sliding movement to and from a position covering its opening, each of said rods having an extension projecting beyond one end of said cover and an endwall of the box when the cover is in a covering position for moving said cover to a partially open position when the box is placed endwise on a supporting surface with said one endwall resting on such supporting surface.

8. A cover for a conventional palletized corrugated metal box having an opening at its top comprising a flat sheet metal panel having depending flanges respectively along each of its lateral edges, each of said flanges having a tube secured to its inner surface adjacent the bottom edge thereof for engagement in a corrugation groove in one of the box sidewalls to mount the cover on the.

box for sliding movement to and from a position covering its opening, each of said tubes having a rod telescopically received therein and projecting beyond one of the box endwalls when said cover is in its said covering position for actuating said cover to a position uncovering said opening when the box is placed endwise on a supporting surface with said one endwall resting on said supporting surface, and means for adjusting the relative positions of said rods with respect to said tubes to thereby adjust the projecting length of said rods.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain July 5, 1939 i 

